Last night’s Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting was another reminder of how much positive change can happen when people stay engaged, ask questions, and remain committed to strengthening their community. Each small step forward matters, and this meeting offered encouraging signs that persistence truly pays off.

Acknowledging Progress at the Senior Center

I began my comments by thanking the board for addressing ongoing concerns at the senior center—particularly the uneven flooring that has been causing difficulties for months. Seniors deserve safe, dignified spaces to gather, and it was heartening to see action finally taking place.

Recognizing progress is important. It sets the tone for collaboration and signals that we can build momentum together, one issue at a time.

Raising Concerns About Financial Reports

From there, I shifted to concerns about the financial documents presented this month. Because the Finance/Audit Committee is entirely focused on the delayed FY24 audit and restricted to doing any other business in November’s meeting, there was no committee-level review before the supervisors received the reports. That made careful scrutiny even more critical.

One of the first things that caught my attention was the Appropriations & Transfers report, where images of actual cash—$1s, $5s, $20s, and loose change—had been scanned into the pages. Many of us grew up being told never to photocopy money, so seeing it appear in a public document felt out of place and immediately raised questions.

The General Ledger AP report also posed challenges. Instead of appearing as a unified and readable table, it had been split into three separate 22-page segments—left, middle, and right columns. It felt like trying to assemble a financial jigsaw puzzle. Transparency loses its usefulness when the information is difficult to interpret.

The delinquent tax report similarly lacked detail. It listed only a single balance with no breakdown of which taxes were overdue, how long accounts had been delinquent, or how many liens or required mailings had been issued. Without those elements, the report doesn’t provide a full picture of what’s happening.

Supervisors Take Notice—and Use My Name

After public comment, several supervisors echoed these concerns. They acknowledged the formatting problems, the unreadable scans, and the difficulty of reviewing documents sliced into fragments. They discussed adding time to the December Warren County Finance/Audit Committee meeting to explore better formats, including alternatives to PDFs.

One shift genuinely stood out: a supervisor referred to me by name—more than once.

For months, supervisors had typically referred to me in the abstract: “a constituent,” “the speaker,” “that commenter.” Hearing my name spoken directly felt like a meaningful acknowledgment—not just of me, but of the consistency, care, and data-driven effort behind the concerns I bring forward.

Recognition doesn’t solve the issues, but it signals a growing level of respect and engagement. That’s a hopeful step forward.

A Productive Conversation After the Meeting

The evening didn’t end at the dais. After the meeting, the finance director invited me to take a closer look at the system she uses and to discuss many of the issues I’ve been raising through my FOIA-based discrepancy reports.

In a short time, we covered a lot:

• The limitations of the county’s general ledger software,
• The senior center maintenance issues,
• The falling ceiling drywall in the Government Center board room that I keep mentioning in my introductions,
• How fuel cards tie to vehicles,
• How departments submit fuel usage reports,
• The boundaries of what she can and cannot correct within the system, and
• A brief introduction to the ClearGov platform and how it caught fraudulent charges when implemented
• A delay in data making its way to ClearGov
• She’s working on her own separate report regarding the delays in the audit
• She’s been directed to create a more thorough response to my fuel report
• She has reports that catch some of the stuff I’ve pointed out, so they were aware of some of the problems already (which will probably be in her response)

We didn’t have time to review the ledger system itself, but even this conversation provided clarity about how the county’s internal processes function—and where they struggle.

These kinds of dialogues build understanding on both sides. That, too, is progress.

A Meeting With County Leadership

Last Friday, the new county administrator reached out to schedule a meeting with me. My calendar tends to be chaotic and ever-changing, so I created a Calendly account and sent him a link. On Tuesday, he scheduled a meeting using it. He invited the deputy county administrator, the finance director, and the IT director to join.

It’s only a 30-minute meeting, but the invitation itself is encouraging. It shows that county leadership is paying attention to the FOIA analyses, the concerns, and the effort to bring clarity to the county’s reporting.

He expressed interest in the tools I use to build my reports. In reality, it’s nothing complicated—just Google Sheets and small JavaScript snippets via Node to clean and reorganize CSV exports. But simple tools can reveal a lot when the data is structured clearly. I’ve started creating a website to help me run database queries and work with the data more easily than within the limitations of spreadsheet formulas. I’ll be able to use better charts, including geographic maps of voting districts and counties, when mapping vendor addresses, as well as blotter maps or heat maps.

This meeting is an opportunity to begin bridging gaps in understanding, compare workflows, and explore ways to make reports more useful for everyone.

ClearGov: Helpful, but Limited

When I returned home, I spent time exploring the ClearGov portal that the county uses. While it offers broad year-to-year overviews, it doesn’t provide the depth required for meaningful analysis.

For oversight and transparency, we need:

• month-to-month data,
• detailed department-level expenditures,
• sub-department breakdowns (especially for things like fire stations),
• Multi-year trends that highlight outliers, and
• Category granularity beyond high-level summaries.

ClearGov, at least in its public-facing form, doesn’t offer those capabilities. But identifying the limitation also highlights potential areas for improvement.

Understanding the Pressure of a Delayed Audit

It’s also important to acknowledge the strain county staff are under. The FY24 audit delay has placed enormous pressure on the administration. Finance staff are temporarily assisting the Treasurer’s Office—something that normally wouldn’t happen, but has become necessary to move the audit forward.

Last night, the board approved bringing in an outside firm—at a cost of up to $100,000—to help complete the audit. It’s a substantial step, but a necessary one. Completing the audit is essential for financial stability, reporting accuracy, and future planning.

Knowing the pressure they’re under helps contextualize some of the issues we’ve been seeing. It doesn’t excuse them—but it does explain why now is a critical time for constructive solutions.

Looking Forward With Hope

Despite the challenges, I walked away feeling more hopeful than ever. When supervisors acknowledge concerns, when staff invite dialogue, and when leadership reaches out to meet, it’s a sign that the work is starting to make a difference.

Over the past several months, I’ve noticed a shift. The board has often spoken about transparency, but the day-to-day reporting and processes didn’t always reflect that ideal. By consistently raising questions, identifying gaps, and offering concrete examples backed by data, I’ve been able to highlight areas that weren’t receiving attention before. Little by little, the conversations have changed. More people are looking closely. More eyes are on the details. And for the first time, it feels like genuine transparency is becoming a shared goal rather than just a stated value.

Local government grows stronger when people participate—when we ask questions, stay curious, show up month after month, and keep our efforts focused on solutions rather than blame.

These conversations are opening doors. Awareness is turning into collaboration. And each small step forward helps build a more accountable and open local government for everyone.

I’m committed to continuing this work—to showing up, to asking the hard questions with respect, and to helping our county present its data clearly, accurately, and usefully.

Better data leads to better decisions.
Better decisions benefit the whole community.

And that’s a future worth working toward.